Malawi opposition celebrate annulment of Mutharika's reelection

Malawi opposition parties celebrated through Monday night an apex court ruling nullifying the May 2019 reelection of President Peter Mutharika.

The 5-member court concluded that due to irregularities recorded, Mutharika had not been duly elected further ordering the elections body to organize fresh polls in 150 days.

The main opposition Malawi Congress Party and UTM party hailed the constitutional court ruling which was a result of the petition filed by their respective leaders Lazarus Chakwera and former VP Saulos Chilima.

Peter Mutharika, who has been in power since 2014, and was re-elected last year with 38.57% of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission’s results.

Chakwera got 35.41% with only 159,000 votes separating the two men. The United Nations through its Secretary-General has urged the Malawians to keep the peace and uphold the rule of law.

It is only the second time in African history that presidential elections have been annulled by the courts. Back in 2017, Kenya’s Supreme Court led by Justice Maraga ordered a rerun of elections won by Uhuru Kenyatta.